Recently, our youngest daughter got married, and my husband and I are now officially empty nesters. We have been looking around our family home and realizing that we own many items we simply do not need. The spaces that used to be filled with three busy children are now bursting with the memorabilia they have left behind and no longer want. And we are thinking that perhaps it is time for us to consider downsizing. It is an interesting process to evaluate each item and discuss what purpose it has in our lives.

Society is beginning to turn its back on the mega-mansions of the past twenty years and is looking to downsize living spaces while searching for a more simplified life. Ikea, a Swedish furniture and home design company, continues to grow in popularity because its furniture is small and easily portable which fits well with the millennials’ more nomadic lifestyle. Home ownership is down as employees move from job to job every few years.

Families with young children are looking to fit more life and less stuff in their homes, so the toys that they purchase for their children must be compact, easy to store and have a lot of creative play value. Up-a-do Unlimited provides a precision tuned glockenspiel xylophone that matches these criteria, and the

Young families are not the only ones making a life for themselves in smaller living spaces. Retired couples are also downsizing, and often times they must leave behind large instruments like pianos. Older musicians can still find the joy of music by playing some of the more complicated pieces in the music pattern collection such as the Bach Minuet. For couples who both want to play the xylophone, there are duets and a rounds on the Up-a-do Unlimited website so that couples and families can enjoy music together.

​For me, the fun that my husband and I have playing music together means that our set of xylophones definitely makes it on the “keep it” list. Small instruments such as the glockenspiel xylophone that can be easily stored provide solutions for both the millennial generation and retirees too.

(And because we have a couple of grandkids now, we’ll be keeping the high chair too!)

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Author

​Debra Newby is a long time educator, a musician, a Heritage Dance caller and a credentialed teacher who is continually fascinated by patterns in life and academics. Read more about her in the author bio below. Ever the extrovert, she loves to chat and help people figure things out, and you can reach her at info@UpadoUnlimited.com.

Author Bio

​Debra Newby is a long time educator, a musician, a Victorian dance caller and a credentialed teacher who has tutored students in Japan, conducted science classes at a marine aquarium, and taught biology and chemistry courses at several California high schools. She has recently completed an exciting twenty-five year homeschooling adventure with her husband and three children, and a year ago welcomed her first grandchild into the family.

While sitting through many years of Suzuki violin lessons with her daughters, she marveled at how many songs – even classical songs – could be played with just eight notes, and she thought about ways that other children and adults could get an easily accessible start in music. She now creates Music Patterns for Upado (Up-a-do) Unlimited Glockenspiel Xylophones which work equally as well with recorders, hand bells and piano.

Continually fascinated by connections and patterns, Debra Newby also coaches and tutors high school and college students to recognize patterns in life and academics, creates dance patterns for her Heritage Dance Events Project and continues to search for more ways to help kids learn.